Day: May 19, 2011

“What better evening to launch the second edition of Tugendhat and Christie’s The Law of Privacy and the Media than the day on which the European Court of Human Rights handed down its hotly anticipated decision in Mosley v the United Kingdom? On 10 May, the publishers Oxford University Press must have been slapping themselves on the back for their good timing. The judges and senior practitioners present talked of little else.”

“In allowing the media to report that Gary Dobson and David Norris will stand trial at the Old Bailey in November for the murder in 1993 of Stephen Lawrence, the court of appeal has recognised the public interest in open justice.”

“In November 2010 the Prime Minister David Cameron announced an independent review of how the Intellectual Property framework supports growth and innovation. Chaired by Professor Ian Hargreaves and assisted by a panel of experts, the review reported to Government in May 2011. The Review makes 10 recommendations designed to ensure that the UK has an IP framework best suited to supporting innovation and promoting economic growth in the digital age.”

“If the United Kingdom chose to hold an inquest into a death resulting from acts by agents of the state which occurred before the Human Rights Act 1998 came into force, that inquest had to comply with the procedural obligations of article 2 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.”

“The statutory discretion for the police to retain biometric data obtained from criminal suspects who were subsequently not proceeded against or were acquitted could be exercised in a rational and proportionate manner which respected and fulfilled the statutory purpose but did not involve the indefinite retention of data taken from all suspects, regardless of their age and the nature of the alleged offence, in breach of their right to privacy.”

“Stephen Lawrence was murdered on 22 April 1993 in an unprovoked attack. Two men have recently been charged with his murder: David Norris and Gary Dobson. They are both in custody and will stand trial later this year at the Central Criminal Court.”

“Time for the latest instalment in the enduring battle against excessive DNA retention. We have a new supreme court judgment, almost 10 years since the law was changed, on 11 May 2001, to permit the police to hold forever the DNA of everyone arrested, irrespective of their guilt. One of the most pernicious consequences of this policy has been the massive over-representation of black people on the DNA database.”

“Kenneth Clarke, the justice secretary, is expected to announce a climbdown over his plan for sentence discounts of up to 50% for early guilty pleas after he provoked a row by appearing to suggest that some rapes are more serious than others.”

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